Generating ideas (P1, M1) Unit 21

Learning outcome 1 (Unit 21) - Be able to generate ideas for an original media product based on a client brief (P1 and M1)

I have been asked by a client to create a music magazine for north London. I have been asked to create a front cover and a double page spread form reading the client brief these are;

 

My initial thoughts

From the brief one of my initial thoughts was around the type of magazine I wanted to focus on whether it would be based on an artist, genre or venue. I may wish to mix together artists and genre and write about how a genre influenced artists. This would stand out because it would give the reader a connection with the artist because I could ask some personal and meaningful questions. My front cover can interest readers by including a section where I talk about future features by popular and famous artists. 

Another initial idea I had was about the theme I would chose for my magazine. From the client brief we can see that there is a 'vibrant music scene developing in the local area' so in order to match that I could chose vibrant and bright colours. This is also a good idea because the bright colours could catch consumers attention and intrigue them into picking up the magazine. 

Finally a third thought I had was regarding the pricing. Because North London has a lot of different demographics not all might be able to buy the magazine if I set it to a high price so therefore it would receive more awareness if there was a lower price on it that would need to be competitive to other magazines that might be considered as competition.

3 Key ideas

My First key idea is to create a magazine based around the UK rap scene, more specifically my first edition will be based around how UK artists, more specifically North London artists, were influenced by American rap growing up. My target audience would be north London based rap fans. This is the genre that the magazine is based round so fans of the genre will be the people most likely to listen to it. The demographics of my audience can be from any gender, race, class and ethnicity. However to make the magazine fitting to all I will set a competitive price in order to make sure people of all classes can afford and read the magazine. My initial thought was to set a price of £1.50. I would also aim the magazine at people aged between 16-21 due to some of the lyrics in the songs of the artists I might feature which could be considered as not right for children under 16. My secondary audience could be children under 16 where I could make an edition that could be considered child friendly with a rapper that is child friendly being the main focus of the edition. In the first edition I will focus on a specific artist and have my double page spread as an interview with questions surrounding the main subject of the magazine, if American Rap influenced the artist. I will also include a hook on my front cover advertising future editions with big name artists such as Giggs, Fekky and Ghetts all UK rappers who were influenced by American rap from the 1980's and 1990's. The USP for this idea is to have an interactive QR code on each copy that would give readers rewards for being frequent readers. An example of a reward it could give could be a free drink at the next concert the artist who that specific edition is focused around performs. This USP is important because as print magazines are declining in sales having something interactive and enticing could be important to gaining a good number of sales.

My second key idea is to create a magazine based around the genre of rap as a whole. This would mean covering things such as; is the genre upcoming or is it loosing popularity in the north London area, who are some main artists in the scene, best upcoming rappers and more. This magazine would be targeted stereotypically at males who listen to Rap music. As Rap originated from men who had a lower class in society, my magazine would reflect this and primarily target a C2DE range. Regarding ethnicity and race my primary target audience would target all ethnicities and races due to rap having a large fan base from all ethnicities and races. To ensure I gain the most potential readership I will set the magazine at a lower price in order to make sure everyone can afford to read it, this also links to the lower disposable income of my reader. My thoughts were to make the magazine at £2. In terms of a secondary target audience people of all demographics would be targeted as Rap could be argued as a genre that has fans of all different demographics, this means that the magazine would target both genders, race, age, class or ethnicity. An example of what I would include in my magazine would be an interview with a new upcoming artist or a famous artist who had a big part in landscaping the current scene. I will also include on my double page spread a section dedicated to question and answers from fans to ask the artist the edition is based around. For my first edition I would cover a North London based rapper. 

My third key idea is to create a magazine based around specific venues in North London. This means that instead of targeting a specific audience in a certain genres fans my target audience would be the surrounding areas of the venues I write about. This therefore means it would be hard to target demographics because North London has a lot of different people from all ethnicities, races, classes and genders. However I would primarily target consumers over the age of 14 as that is the typical age a person can attend a music concert on their own. The pricing for the magazine would be set at £2 so that consumers with all levels of disposable income can easily afford the magazine. This is also then helpful to gain a loyal reader base as if it is cheap for people and they are entertained by the magazine then it would mean they are more likely to repeatedly buy the editions. In terms of a secondary target audience I would target consumers from outside of North London who might want to know more about the area and the live music they can see. This would be targeted at people from all demographics specifically people of different ethnicities who might be coming to the area from a different country. My double page spread would focus on a range of different venues that show a wide variety of genres to ensure there is something for everyone in the magazine. 

Strengths and weaknesses

Option 1:

Strengths	Unique selling point of being interactive which is something no other competitors have currently. This links to current technology and creates convergence.	Popular genre which will provide the magazine with a lot more content. This means that the magazine won't be limited by content.	Pricing that suits all classes which will allow us to target different demographics in order to build up a customer base.
Weaknesses	Many competitors in market already which will mean gaining an initial stake in the market might be hard.	Will be hard to make frequent editions due to low price meaning low profits this could then mean interest from consumers is slowly lost over time.

Option 2:

Strengths	Pricing that suits all classes which will allow us to target different demographics in order to build up a customer base.	Can be a magazine for everyone differing between well known artists and up and coming artists to provide fans with a wide coverage of the industry.	Targets the current vibrant North London scene which is a good selling point and meets the clients brief.
Weaknesses	many competitors in market already  which will mean gaining an initial stake in the market might be hard.	Will be hard to make frequent editions due to low price meaning low profits. This could then mean interest from consumers is slowly lost over time.

Option 3:

Strengths	Easy to gain a loyal readership as people who have been to these clubs and venues will be able to easily access the copies.	Not many competitors of this type which will mean if consumers want this type of material they would have to buy this magazine.	Can focus on lots of different genres which means we will never run out of content keeping our fans engaged.
Weaknesses	Might not be appealing to people so would be hard to gain readership right away which could mean we might struggle to gain a stake in the market.	Can’t have a certain target audience as it is covering an area full of lots of different people which will be hard for marketing because they won't be able to target certain people.

Final conclusion

I have decided to choose key idea 1. This is because I believe it has the most potential to succeed compared to the other two ideas and it is also the idea with the best USP so will be the most creative idea. It also meets all the requirements of the brief which makes it a good option to go for. I have chosen this idea because I believe it is the idea that best meets the clients brief. For example this idea meets the brief because it will be a music magazine focusing on North London, Focusing on the vibrant growing music scene and will produce original content. This idea is appealing as well because it will have unique selling points that will allow my magazine to stand out from competition.